ESSAY ON THE APPLE. 



53 



Fig. 3. 



Fig. 4. Fig. 5. Fig. 6. 



foot stalk of the leaf and insert the lower end of the bud you 

 have prepared as above, under the bark at the opening formed 

 by the junction of the incisions, and gentl}^ push it down to near 

 the bottom. The bark above 

 the bud should now be cut so 

 as to make an exact joint with 

 the upper part of the horizontal 

 incision, and the whole bound 

 with threads of bass bark, 

 woolen yarn, or some other 

 soft material, so that ever}" 

 part of the bud shall be cov- 

 ered except the eye (figs. 3, 4, 

 6, 6). The bud should be in- 

 serted on the 7iorth side of the stock to prevent it and the young 

 shoot from the direct rays of the mid-day sun. 



Budding is usually most successful when done in August or 

 September. Just the proper time is when the terminal 

 bud of the stock is about half formed. 



So soon as a union has been formed between stock 

 and bud, which will be in about two weeks, the strings 

 should be loosened, and when the union is complete, 

 usually in from three to four weeks, they should be 

 removed altogether. In the ensuing spring the stock 

 should be cut down to within six inches of the bud. 

 To this remaining part the shoot from the bud may 

 be tied as it grows, until it has become sufficiently 

 wooded to sustain itself, when the stock should be cut 

 smooth diagonally downward from the place where the 

 bud was inserted (fig. 1). 



Fig. r. 



ROOT GRAFTING. 



Should it be desired to pursue this plan for propagation, it 

 should be done before planting in the nursery, the trees should be 

 taken up in the autumn, the tap-roots cut off six inches below the 

 top, and the bottom part thrown away. Grafts on the lower part 

 will grow, but they will not make first rate trees. 



Pack the stocks away, with the roots in sand, to keep them 

 moist until such time as it is convenient to graft them. 



Procure scions of ripe wood, firm and fully matured, from 

 thrifty, productive trees in the fall, before very cold weather, 



